-By Warner Todd Huston
Andy Stern, president of the Service Employee International Union (SEIU), has an ambitious plan for the future. He imagines the SEIU as the voice of all working Americans, not just that of his union. He feels the SEIU should and will lead the nation in employment policy, essentially claiming a place at the table of power where legally only legislators should sit. In pursuit of this, Stern has earmarked an unprecedented $85 million dollars of his members’ money to go to elect Democrats to Congress and the White House. And, apparently only one thing stands in his way is…
… his own membership.
We have here on the blog been following the endemic corruption scandal engulfing the SEIU offices in California, all of it tired to operatives intimate with and appointed by Andy Stern. In response to these scandals, Stern has begun to make a show of pretending at a clean up. ( see here, here, here, here, and here)
But, instead of serious action, Stern’s solution is to put his inter-union rivals’ locals into “trusteeship” so that he can root out corruption by taking them over like some tin-pot dictator. This corporatization of the SEIU is not sitting well with the rank and file who have found that their ability to control their own destinies has been summarily eliminated from the top of the SEIU down to them.
As SEIU-UHW Shop Steward Shayne Silva reports:
In order to eliminate the most prominent whistleblowers in SEIU and divert attention from the growing scandals engulfing them and their hand-picked leaders all in one move, Stern and Burger announced on the first night of the Democratic Convention that they were calling hearings on September 22nd and 23rd to seek an International Union takeover of United Healthcare Workers – West (UHW). The main pretext for these trusteeship hearings against UHW is a recycled set of charges, already refuted thoroughly before. Labor journalist Steve Early, who has written extensively on Stern's ongoing efforts to suppress UHW's dissent, gives detailed background in a new CounterPunch article cross-posted on OpenLeft.
It seems, though, that Stern’s despotic plans are not going unopposed. The rebel faction of the SEIU that Stern is targeting for extermination, United Healthcare Workers West (UHW-W), is not taking this lying down.
Again Silva:
In June, 7,000 UHW homecare members, consumers and families rallied across the state against Governor Schwarzenegger’s threats to homecare services and Stern and Burger’s efforts to move them out of UHW against their will. Last month, 6,000 UHW members protested at an SEIU California Long Term Care Jurisdictional Hearing called to take next steps in dismantling the local. This Sunday, 4,000 UHW members will rally for one statewide healthcare union at the local’s annual Leadership Conference in San Jose. Thousands more UHW members can be expected to mobilize for the trusteeship proceedings, whose location remains secret, a hallmark of the anti-democratic style that has become the norm in SEIU. Thousands more still, indeed the vast majority of UHW members, will make their voices heard in the weeks ahead, insisting that their union remain under their control, and pledging their commitment to keep up the fight.
So, what does this all mean to we who oppose all unions? After all, why should we worry about this little internal spat? Both sides, as far as we are concerned, are a danger to the country. If they are bringing out the big guns upon each other, why should we worry?
Certainly we should find no love lost between the beleaguered members of the UHW-W and anti-union advocates. But, there is one area where we agree: Andy Stern is not good for this country. Unfortunately, Stern is in a much stronger position to defeat the locals in California than they are in defeating him. And this will mean that, should Stern vanquish his California rebels, he will next turn his considerable energy and gigantic bank account on us — we who oppose his extremist, leftist, socialist and anti-business agenda.
So, I continue to cover this story and urge each of you reading this to stand with the UHW-W members and against the greater enemy, Andy Stern. Enemy of my enemy, and all.
This entire story makes the lie to Stern’s claims of being “for the little guy.” He is a power made, top down, dictator and his brand of iron-fisted control is exactly the wrong direction this country needs to go. If you think we are in a delicate, even down turned, economy now, wait until this madman gets hold of more power. And with the millions of dollars he has to control Democrats like puppets on a string, he will become a national power to be reckoned with.
So, let us for now root for the put upon UHW-W.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston